- Dear Family and Friends,
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- A friend phoned recently with the news that her grand-daughter
had just had a baby. The words of congratulations for the great grandmother
froze when I heard that there were serious complications. The baby had
been born with her bowel and intestine outside of her abdomen. Under normal
circumstances in a fully functioning country this would be dire news. In
Zimbabwe it sounded like an almost certain death sentence. Doctors and
nurses strikes, chronic shortages of drugs, ten to twelve hour electricity
cuts, interrupted water supplies and worst of all, the brain drain. Seven
years of political turmoil, oppressive laws dictating every facet of our
lives and the devastating economic collapse has seen professionals pour
out of the country in hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions.
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- Every single step of the way in saving my friends newly
born great grand daughter was littered with problems. Nothing at all was
guaranteed from fuel for the ambulance to doctors not on strike, electricity
being on and water coming out of the taps. From the University of Zimbabwe
where we normally hear that the lecturers are on strike, the students are
protesting or the student leaders are being arrested - out of this came
one professor. A fortnight of delicate operations and proceedures, highly
professional expertise and care and then came the wondrous news that the
baby girl can go home. By now no one is calling the baby by her name, she
is known as 'the miracle baby' and every one knows that without the 'Professor',
this little Zimbabwean girl would not have made it.
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- On Africa Day, a public holiday, I had no water at home
and the electricity was off for just over ten hours and I found myself
thinking about this little miracle baby and the Professor who had saved
her. It is very hard to stay in Zimbabwe when everything around you is
collapsing. It is even harder for the young, highly educated professionals
to stay. Without a doubt these men and women could get work anywhere in
the world and the temptation to leave is very high. Those few who have
been able to stay are doing so at great sacrifice to themselves and I don't
know how we ordinary Zimbabweans can thank them - but we do.
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- It would be unrealistic to believe that all the hundreds
of thousands of professionals who have left Zimbabwe these past seven years
will come home, but we hope some will. The load on Zimbabwe's professionals
is very heavy but for many of us it is because they have found a way to
stay they have ensured that we too are able to stay. It was a bleak Africa
Day for many Zimbabweans but for the family of the miracle baby, it was
a day of peace and love and one filled with gratitude .
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- Until next week, thanks for reading,
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- love cathy.
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- Copyright cathy buckle 26 May 2007 http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available
from: orders@africabookcentre.com To subscribe/unsubscribe to this letter,
please write to: cbuckle@mango.zw
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